Educational shenanigans

Fellow colleagues, it has been with great pleasure that I've been able to spend the last 8 wonderful weeks with you. As our journey continues throughout our educational, personal, and professional lives I wish you much success in all your endeavors. My hope when working with diverse families and children is to gain a better understanding and respect for their culture. I seek knowledge in all forms from them and I hope the would be receptive to me in that manner. My goal for the early childhood field in relation to equity, diversity, and social justice is to simply be aware and educate yourself. There has been a shift in all these areas and it's important in our field to stay up to date and to constantly educate ourselves. Without the knowledge for ourselves we're unable to help anyone else.

To prepare myself to be culturally responsive I will Do research about their cultural beliefs and ideas Travel to this country to understand their country Speak to people around me to gain a better understanding of their culture Take classes to learn their language Become familiar with their religion and their mannerisms. Certain salutes that we use in the US are consider offensive in the Chinese culture so I will need to be aware of those in order to not disrespect them.  I hope these preparations will help ease the transition for me and the new students. These preparations will help me learn more about the Chinese culture but it will allow me the opportunity to expand my knowledge and venture out to learn more about other cultures in the future.

What memory do you have of an incident when you experienced bias, prejudice, and/or oppression, or witnessed someone else as the target of bias, prejudice, and/or oppression?  I recall a time when I was younger and in school, there was a huge issue with lice in the school so the nurse was going around each classroom checking each person head. It was winter time and my mother usually kept my hair in braids. I recall the school nurse coming into the classroom and calling each child to the back of the classroom. It wasn't until that moment that I realized I was the only African American child in the classroom. The nurse finished calling everyone but she didn't call my name. The teacher went back there to ask her why I wasn't called and the nurse said it was because I was black and had braids in my hair. Being so young I didn't realize that there was a logical reason for me not to have my hair checked but I did feel insulted by the comment she made. The teacher still l...

I was shopping in my local target a few days ago. I had to go to the pharmacy to pick up my child's medication. When I got up there I gave them the usual information that they ask for. I feel like i'm forever at the pharmacy and the women there know me very well. They're always very friendly, but in this instance this woman appeared to have an attitude. She glanced at my son, and then at me and repeated this a couple of times. I asked her if everything was alright considering I wasn't looking directly at my child and he's a toddler you blink and he gets into something. He was fine needless to say but she insisted that I needed to verify more information. She wanted me to verify my date of birth and my address. I thought this was a new procedure and since our insurance recently changed didn't think much of it. Well she made a comment when I mentioned my age under her breath "Oh you're a young one." Then she made a comment about my address "You...

There were many different definitions of diversity and culture that I received. Some were quite amusing and some were more detailed than others. A close relative of mine would consider traveling the world and seeing lots of things a form of culture, while diversity could be defined as someone not acting "ghetto" or "boushy". While another acquaintance felt that understanding a persons background in reference to their mannerisms and way of life is a form of culture. My younger sisters fiance felt that diversity defines who a person is, it's the way they define themselves in the world. His family is originally from Germany and migrated to the United States to provide a better life for their family. All of the definitions that I listened to had touched on some form of diversity or culture. I think the biggest thing missing from the culture definitions were the customs that relate to a persons diversity. In all my discussions no one mentioned anything like this whi...

Being located to a new country with just my immediate family scares me a lot. I don't know how I will accepted, I don't know what to expect, nor do I have any idea of the cultural beliefs they may have. I will embrace this change as I would anything else for the benefit of my family. There are so many items that I would bring with me but my three most prized possessions would be my Pandora charm bracelet that has charms based on milestones in my life (being a mother, graduating, moving to PA, etc). I would also bring a picture of my extended family so my immediate family can always hold those memories close to them. Finally, I would like to bring my Tigger stuffed animal. It may sound silly but it's one of those things I've had with me since I could remember. This stuffed animal symbolizes that no matter what happens I can be just as resilient as Tigger and bounce back from any obstacles.  If I was only allowed to keep one of these items I would be very upset an...

I feel that my simulation is so important to this field because it gives information about the benefits of parents. Many times parents don't understand the role they play in their child's education or the impact they make by not being involved in their education. Having this simulation available for families, and school will help spread the word about the significance of everyone getting involved. I firmly believe in the quote "It takes a village." Without teachers our children wouldn't learn the skills they need to thrive in society, without families children would know love, respect, compassion, etc. The list goes on. It's not one sole person job to help a child succeed it's a team effort. This course has helped me understand the benefits of research and how to access them as well. Without this course I still wouldn't know the difference between a scholarly article and one that is made up. 

I decided to explore the Sub-Sahara Africa: website http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/major_reports.php This was such a great site to click onto for so many reasons. Not only was it information but it provided me with information that other countries not even states were dealing with. Some of these international topics included:  The Development of an Integrated Early Childhood Development Urban Model Training Program for Informal Minders and Community Volunteers in Ghana- This research focusing on providing a training program that's effective for informal child minders (IMs) and community volunteers (CVs) in urbancommunity-based ECD centres and to develop training modules for that program usingan integrated approach towards the holistic development of the child (Agorsah, 1982). Traditional Child Care Practices in Tanzania: Supplementing PLAN Training Programs- This project reviews typical child care practices for Tanzania. These practices were passed on through prove...

Using my imagination, I imagine that I am able to conduct research on Autism. A few years ago this was such a mystery disorder and now I currently possess the knowledge to conduct a study to find the underlying issue. My research will need to be conducted on children aged 5-9 males and females with varied spectrum's of this disorder. After conducting this research I was able to find out what cause Autism and a way to help lessen the severity of it, and in some cases was able to cure it with daily medication.  With the information that I gathered from this research i'm able to help many children beginning at a young age who are displaying signs and symptoms of this disorder and provide them with long term medication that will lessen the severity of their disorder. This will make them more successful in their educational path. Further research will be done in a few years to see if the effects of this new medication is still working. However, this medication is now being admini...

I have always had a passion for understanding how children and families function. As I've watched the news and heard about another child harming someone else or being bullied by another child what their parents were doing or how they were reacting to this news. The questions kept forming as I thought about what their involvement was like in their child's life, school, extracurricular activities. I began watching shows and documentaries like "Beyond Scared Straight" I listened to what the parents said, what the children said about their parents, and their silent cries for attention. I realized at that moment that there was a lack of parental involvement in schools and I wanted to know how to change that. What could I do as an educator to increase this and maybe decrease the amount of "chaos" that happens in schools.  All this being said leads up to my topic about the effects of parent/family involvement in schools. I've worked at schools where families ...